The American Heart Association announced the launch of a pioneering research network aimed at transforming heart transplant care across the United States. Nearly 60 years after the first successful heart transplant, the initiative seeks to address long-standing gaps in innovation, equity, and patient outcomes through a national, unified data, research, and quality care infrastructure.
According to the American Heart Association’s 2026 Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics, about 4,500 heart transplantations were performed in the U.S., the highest ever in a single year. However, more than 3,700 people remained on the waiting list for heart transplants in 2025.
“Despite decades of breakthrough advances in cardiovascular medicine, the system supporting heart transplantation has remained largely unchanged. Today, transplant recipients still face serious challenges, including difficulty detecting heart rejection early, reliance on immunosuppressive therapies that have seen little advancement over the past 20 years and inconsistent outcomes, especially among Black patients and children,” said Mariell Jessup, M.D., FAHA, the chief science and medical officer of the American Heart Association. “This is one of the most high-stakes areas in medicine, yet innovation has lagged far behind.”
The new initiative aims to foster collaboration across institutions, generate actionable data, and ensure equitable advances. It focuses on three key pillars: a global heart transplant data infrastructure, a research network for breakthrough science, and a coordinated path forward modeled after the Association’s Get With The Guidelines® success.
The research network includes 14 medical research centers and a coordinating center led by Emilia Bagiella, Ph.D., at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Centers include Baylor College of Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Columbia University, Duke University School of Medicine, and others. The four-year research grants start July 1, 2026.
For patients and families, the initiative represents hope for safer treatments and better long-term outcomes. “By bringing together this exceptional data, research and clinical expertise, the Heart Association can help accelerate discoveries and translate them into better care for every patient, no matter who they are or where they live,” Jessup said.
The American Heart Association has funded more than $6.1 billion in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and brain health research since 1949. A recent Annenberg Policy Center poll found that 82% of U.S. adults are confident in the Association to provide trustworthy public health information.
